Character Abilities You're Tired Of

[linkblade91]

The whirlwind attack is a quick and functional way to get out of situations where you're flanked by multiple enemies and by that probably the most useful tool in your entire arsenal. If you can think of a better way to accomplish that, I would like to hear it.
The same points could be made for every other ability you mention. The whirlwind attack didn't become so prevalent in games because it looks cool, it's just a plan useful feature to have.
The same point can be made for every single item on your list. Cliches aren't used just because developers are lazy, but because they work.

I fully understand the usefulness of these techniques and systems. As I said in an above post, I implemented Bullet Time frequently, and I've taken advantage of Whirlwind Attack in ARPGs and the like. And though I find the Main Four elemental system to be a classic, it's still a tired set-up. My complaint was never that these abilities lack value, but rather that they've failed to evolve into anything really different or new in a long time.

Classics have their place, but in a gaming industry that supposed to thrive on new innovations, there has to exist a means by which we can "spice up" old ideas, taking them in a new direction while maintaining their effectiveness and enjoyment value.

Perhaps instead of having your macho melee man spin like a top to ward off surrounding enemies, his weapons themselves could spin around him like a cyclone, while he remains in place, punching the opponent directly in front of him. Similar concept (spin-attack to engage multiple hostiles surrounding you), but done in a different way. I'm sure a creative department can come up with something better than what I can produce on-the-fly by myself.

Edit: I think a great way to illustrate my point about the over-use of the Whirlwind Attack is to highlight the newest game I've added to my library: Guild Wars 2. The Warrior class has not one but two Whirlwinds, one under Greatsword skills (blatantly called "Whirlwind Attack"), and the other under Axes (called "Whirling Axe"). And that fails to mention any other melee class in the game that might take advantage of the same technique, all under the same roof, so-to-speak. It's also amusing to point out that the Axe skill line has both the "classic" spinning Whirlwind, and the "Cyclone" weapon-spin I was referring to.

Edit 2: Another idea I just thought of: maybe your Barbarian grabs one of the enemies surrounding him, and then spins the enemy around in circles, knocking everyone around like he were a pro-wrestler with an axe to grind (when he's not using said axe on said enemies).

 

[Vegosiux]

Hard crowd control. Stunlocks, knockdowns, anything that makes your character unable to act. I don't like them, never did, because they're boring.

I prefer controlling crowds differently. Through soft things that leaves people in control, but with consequences. Like a thorns aura. Areas that deal damage and reduce your movement speed the longer you stay in them. Stuff like that. You can still do whatever the hell you want, but if you do X, Y will happen. It makes for more thinking on the fly required and more flexibility in strategy, more room to tweak and try things.

 

[Raeshkae]

There's no reason one cannot change up the priorities of the spell affinities, or maybe mix-and-match the skills (Thunderballs? Raining Fire? Chained Earth - i.e: Rock Snakes?). And who's to say that the Main Four have to be the schools from which your spellcaster can call their power from?

You should check out Magicka on Steam, there's a playable demo. You have up to 5 element slots per spell cast and you can choose between 10 Elements. And you can blend them together on the fly. For example, combining Earth and Fire you'll get a large meteor that puts a DoT on things, or combining Earth with Ice will hurl a spikey rock ball for additional damage. But put Earth Ice and Shield together and you can have rock armor covered in ice spikes, so you can run into people and hurt them. http://www.magickapedia.net/wiki/Elements My favorite combo is (arcane/cold/steam/steam/lightning) You'll get a channeled beam attack that freezes and stuns your target, then gibs it into frozen meat chunks.

There are also specific spells you can cast by combining elements in the right order. For example you can Haste yourself with (lightning/arcane/fire) or summon an Elemental with (arcane/shield/earth/steam/arcane)

My friends and I have a blast with this game, there's no way to turn off friendly fire in co-op story mode. Good thing Revive is so easy to cast! (life/lightning)

 

[linkblade91]

There's no reason one cannot change up the priorities of the spell affinities, or maybe mix-and-match the skills (Thunderballs? Raining Fire? Chained Earth - i.e: Rock Snakes?). And who's to say that the Main Four have to be the schools from which your spellcaster can call their power from?

You should check out Magicka on Steam, there's a playable demo. You have up to 5 element slots per spell cast and you can choose between 10 Elements. And you can blend them together on the fly. For example, combining Earth and Fire you'll get a large meteor that puts a DoT on things, or combining Earth with Cold will hurl a spikey rock ball for additional damage. But put Earth Cold and Shield together and you can have rock armor covered in ice spikes, so you can run into people and hurt them. http://www.magickapedia.net/wiki/Elements My favorite combo is (arcane/cold/steam/steam/lightning) You'll get a channeled beam attack that freezes and stuns your target, then gibs it into frozen meat chunks.

There are also specific spells you can cast by combining elements in the right order. For example you can Haste yourself with (lightning/arcane/fire) or summon an Elemental with (arcane/shield/earth/steam/arcane)

My friends and I have a blast with this game, there's no way to turn off friendly fire in co-op story mode. Good thing Revive is so easy to cast! (life/lightning)

That...actually sounds pretty awesome. Being able to mess with the basic abilities of a spellcaster by mix-and-matching the elements together in different combinations is exactly the kind of fresh idea I was thinking of.

And I am flattered to see that your first comment ever to grace the Escapist forums would be on one of my threads. May I be the first to say "Welcome!"

 

[scorptatious]

Lockpicking. Lockpicking is fine and all but for some reason its always the default for dealing with a locked door/chest. I want to see more creative solutions, like bashing a chest open, or dissembling the hinges, or dropping a chest from a great height (if the contents aren't fragile) or hell, let the wizard burn it with a fireball. Having a thief to unlock it might be less messy, but its also less fun.

The dropping chests from great heights things could be interesting. You can save money through not buying keys or lock picks, but you risk destroying the contents inside. A risk vs reward system if you will.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Execution moves in LoL. Please, stop. You're ruining my Irelia's fun. Riven can squeeze by because she has to aim it... Wait, actually, no. She can execute entire teams at once... Changed my mind, fuck Riven too.

I would say spin attacks too... But come on Spin2Win is an icon within LoL.

 

[Raeshkae]

First and second now and thank you. Been lurking a while, but figured anybody who agreed with your point on how typical magic casting has become boring would like to check out a deviation from the norm. Also, I like pushing more people at Magicka as my way of thanking the developers for being generally awesome.

 

[Faladorian]

Excessive transformations.

Now to be fair, I don't mind transformations if the game actually requires you to do it for puzzles or other daily affairs, nor do dislike it when the game is just so tough that I need them, but otherwise it's just pointless. A lot of RPG's have this mechanic (Kingdom Hearts 2, Torchlight's dog, werewolf in Skyrim) and there is just no reason to use them because the game isn't too difficult.

Spoiler: My avatar takes offense to your lack of respect for transformations.

All joking aside, I really hate "free attack" moves. I'm looking at you, league of legends. "Every 5 hits you perform an extra hit for FREE." Just call or ask an adult with a credit card... well you get the point.

 

[DoPo]

Lockpicking. Lockpicking is fine and all but for some reason its always the default for dealing with a locked door/chest. I want to see more creative solutions, like bashing a chest open, or dissembling the hinges, or dropping a chest from a great height (if the contents aren't fragile) or hell, let the wizard burn it with a fireball. Having a thief to unlock it might be less messy, but its also less fun.

You can sort of do those in Neverwinter Nights. Well, it's either unlock or bash/explode the chest/door but still. In Arcanum, if you couldn't go through a door, you could either unlock it, or be more fun and blow it with dynamite. Or even use Disintegrate.

That...actually sounds pretty awesome. Being able to mess with the basic abilities of a spellcaster by mix-and-matching the elements together in different combinations is exactly the kind of fresh idea I was thinking of.

Look, I'm only going to say it once (here) - you must immediately get Magicka because not only does it have the best magic system I've ever seen and always wanted, but it's incredibly fun as well. Filled with humour and quirky stuff. I mean, one of the first spells you get is called Crash To Desktop. It instantly obliterates one random character on the screen by having them disappear after a blues screen effect. Well, it could also kill you or your friends but that's the fun of it. Do check out Total Biscuit and the Yogscast's Let's Play of Magicka [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZHhwUK8aj8] if you're not yet convinced (but you totally should).

 

[The_Waspman]

I do get a bit sick of the rouge/warrior/mage dynamic in games. Especially if the game locks you into one of them. That was one thing that really irked me in Dragon Age, how in almost all of the origin stories there would be locked chests, which was kinda the games way of telling you 'you must play a rogue'.

Then again, Amalur did kinda mix things up a bit with letting you mix and match as you saw fit. But it was restrictive in the sense that if you did mix and match you'd nebver gain access to any high tier skills.

But that is also something fairly tiresome, having skill trees with high tier skills that are pretty much game breaking.

Level caps too. Yahtzee mentioned this in his Sandbox article this week, and its kinda true in every rpg. I've noticed it particularly in Darksiders 2, how there comes a point where you're pretty much max level, there is nothing left to spend gold on, you still keep getting tons of loot drops when realistically, by the halfway point of the game, you're really not going to change much of your equipment.

What else? Broken in game economies? The fact that I will never ever buy anything from stores, but will offload literally every piece of crap I pick up out in the field? Amalur does this too. In a lot of the towns there will be someone who gives you tasks. For example, one dude gives gold for bandit armbands. And they stay active for the rest of the game. I must have handed in 10,000 gold coins worth of armbands to that guy. Where was he getting all this gold from?

 

[linkblade91]

What else? Broken in game economies? The fact that I will never ever buy anything from stores, but will offload literally every piece of crap I pick up out in the field? Amalur does this too. In a lot of the towns there will be someone who gives you tasks. For example, one dude gives gold for bandit armbands. And they stay active for the rest of the game. I must have handed in 10,000 gold coins worth of armbands to that guy. Where was he getting all this gold from?

Only 10,000? I was making ten of thousands of gold off that guy, 'cause he gives out ~2200 per armband. Get the quest early into your exploration of Erathell, and you'll easily make upwards of 200,000 gold by the time you've explored the whole region and done all the quests, all off that one repeatable task.

Getting rich in Amalur is ridiculously easy, and yet ultimately pointless. I had ~1.5 million before I ever set foot in Rathir, and that's with me salvaging every piece of white, green, and blue equipment I acquired (which gives no money). I had nearly 4 mill by game's end, and I do not own any of the expansions.

Look, I'm only going to say it once (here) - you must immediately get Magicka because not only does it have the best magic system I've ever seen and always wanted, but it's incredibly fun as well. Filled with humour and quirky stuff. I mean, one of the first spells you get is called Crash To Desktop. It instantly obliterates one random character on the screen by having them disappear after a blues screen effect. Well, it could also kill you or your friends but that's the fun of it. Do check out Total Biscuit and the Yogscast's Let's Play of Magicka [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZHhwUK8aj8] if you're not yet convinced (but you totally should).

First and second now and thank you. Been lurking a while, but figured anybody who agreed with your point on how typical magic casting has become boring would like to check out a deviation from the norm. Also, I like pushing more people at Magicka as my way of thanking the developers for being generally awesome.

Went and downloaded the Magicka demo, and I cannot tell if it's because the game is harder than I expected, or I just plain suck, but I was having a hell of a time progressing against the larger mobs. I've got four distinct complaints that I discovered during my run-through:

1. Part of it is the whole on-the-fly-remembering-what-every-combo-does-and-what-would-be-most-helpful-while-the-goblins-are-breathing-down-my-neck aspect. Ultimately kind of the point, adding to the hectic gameplay, so I'll let it slide.

2. I noticed a distinct delay in between when I pressed an Element button, and when it would be added into the hotbar. I kept messing up my combinations 'cause Lightning + Arcane + Fire for Haste would become Lightning + (hit Arcane) + (no Arcane) + Fire + (realization) Damn it! + (replacement) Arcane = Fire/Thunder bolt attack.

3. Holding down the left click to move is annoying. Cannot I just click where on the ground I want to go, and the mage goes there?

4. I was having issues aiming the giant Fireball attack (Arcane + Earth + Fire) and other ranged AoE attacks, 'cause it goes a set distance or knocks into the first enemy it encounters, and not where my mouse pointer is, which was a pain. And when it crashes into the target right in front of me, I end up killing myself more than the monsters do.

Beyond that, I really like the inherent idea behind the element-combining. Rather, I was having issues with the gameplay itself; maybe it's a learning-curve thing, I don't know. Did you notice any of that, or was it just me?

 

[ElPatron]

#2 Slo-mo or "Bullet Time" --> An untold number of shooters
This one is obvious, and I don't believe myself to be alone on this issue. Slowing time in a shooting game has its advantages, but Bullet Time is the king of over-utilized abilities. It's usually not even explained in-game as to how you can do it; slowing time is just an inherent ability of all burnt-out cops, I suppose. If your character has an inexplicable ability, try something different for a change. X-Ray vision? Reflecting shots back at your target? Portal-esque teleporting?

In FEAR you are the son of Alma (boohoo, spoiling a 2005 game) and you were born with reflexes 5 times faster than normal humans.

In Max Payne I assume it's all the pills that get Max high.

Anyway, portals have been used in Prey before, and Blacklight has sort of a "wallhack" ability. It's not that "different" or original.

Plus, I absolutely love bullet time and no way I'll get tired of it. To me it's like the cover system - overused, most devs can't make the most out of the system, but no way I can feel comfortable in 3rd person shooters where I can't look around corners with a fair sense of protection.

 

[emeraldrafael]

entry hazard abilities and wonder guard, especially on pokemon it has no business being on.

 

[DoPo]

1. Part of it is the whole on-the-fly-remembering-what-every-combo-does-and-what-would-be-most-helpful-while-the-goblins-are-breathing-down-my-neck aspect. Ultimately kind of the point, adding to the hectic gameplay, so I'll let it slide.

After you play for a bit you'll be totally fine with it. You'll be able to whip up the appropriate combinations on the fly. Or maybe fail miserably and hilariously, but still, you'll get better. Alternatively, you'll just find several combos that work for you and stick to them.

2. I noticed a distinct delay in between when I pressed an Element button, and when it would be added into the hotbar. I kept messing up my combinations 'cause Lightning + Arcane + Fire for Haste would become Lightning + (hit Arcane) + (no Arcane) + Fire + (realization) Damn it! + (replacement) Arcane = Fire/Thunder bolt attack.

Hmm, didn't experience that. Might be just in the demo. It was really responsive last time I played, to the point when I wanted to change an element "mid-click" so to say, but it didn't work.

3. Holding down the left click to move is annoying. Cannot I just click where on the ground I want to go, and the mage goes there?

I don't think you can. Yeah, that might be annoying, I was fine with it but still. On the other hand, it's quite easy to click somewhere and just get killed if you don't stop, so I kind of see why they did the click-and-hold thing.

4. I was having issues aiming the giant Fireball attack (Arcane + Earth + Fire) and other ranged AoE attacks, 'cause it goes a set distance or knocks into the first enemy it encounters, and not where my mouse pointer is, which was a pain. And when it crashes into the target right in front of me, I end up killing myself more than the monsters do.

If you don't max it out, it doesn't go as far. It's still not very accurate, as it's very easy to under- or overshoot your target.

 

[thesilentman]

I just wanna see powers used creatively. And using some interesting powers. Come on, why don't we have a character[footnote]In any medium[/footnote] that has control over the elements in the Periodic Table of Elements. Or someone who channels quantum physics?

 

[Raeshkae]

When playing solo, I tend to use more Point Blank AoEs than force balls. Like try steam/lightning/arcane PBAoE attack. The steam gives them the 'wet' status effect, the lightning stuns them and makes them take double damage because they're wet, and the arcane.. well the arcane makes a really big mess of them. More arcane makes the effect larger, more lightning makes it deal more damage.

For big guys like trolls try a beam attack with Cold in it, to slow them down.

If you dont know, Steam is fire/water or water/fire and Ice is water/cold or cold/water.

 

[sanquin]

Cover mechanics: (Mass effect)
Rpg's aren't about hiding behind conveniently placed things to cover behind. They're about becoming stronger, dodging attacks, etc. Not about hiding like a lil' ***** and hoping to hit something from said hiding spot.

Standard weapon configurations:
There aren't enough single player rpg's and action games that allow for more creative combinations. Sword and wand? Gun and spear? Two shields? Where are those options?

Not something I'm sick of seeing, but what I'm sick of not seeing:
Proper unarmed combat. Sure rpg's/action games usually add some mediocre way to fight unarmed as well. But I hardly see any games that have half-decent unarmed combat implemented apart from specific martial arts games.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

Invisibility spoils most games it's in, even when it's done well. Might aswell have god mode slipped in aswell to really spoil the challenge bah

 

[Combustion Kevin]

plot armour.

make me fight for an interesting character, damnit!

 

[Mirroga]

I just wanna see powers used creatively. And using some interesting powers. Come on, why don't we have a character[footnote]In any medium[/footnote] that has control over the elements in the Periodic Table of Elements. Or someone who channels quantum physics?

Oh I wish they just made an awesome Fullmetal Alchemist-like game that uses such elements with genuine intuition. I remember one episode wherein he split up bomb components ammonium nitrate and simply use the ammonia to instantly deal with smell-sensitive chimeras.